Pulling Pranks
by wackydancer12
Summary: Rikku gets bored and decides to entertain herself by playing pranks on her friends, but will she know when to stop before things go too far? RikkuxGippal
1. The beginning

**Author's note: **So, I decided to write another fic, thus making this...**MY SECOND STORY EVER! **Okay, so, I'm making it my mission to fix up my writing. I'm going to try really hard to add more details, because I'm always lacking in that department. Oh, and as you can tell, this story is in third person, which is something that I don't regularly do. Also, I'm going to try to make this story funny, but I highly doubt that anyone will find it funny. You see, I laugh at anything and everything! So, you probably won't find any of this funny. Oh and I have really bad grammar, even though I take Latin and that is supposed to help. Anyways, love this or hate this, I really don't care, just leave reviews about how much you love/hate this. I NEED to work on my writing skill...a lot!

**Disclaimer:** Though, I never really found a point in these, I must add it. Final Fantasy is not mine! If you somehow get the idea that it is, you have serious issues. Anyways, characters and other Final Fantasy thingys are brought to you by Square-enix, but I can and will claim the plot...MINE!

So, if that part didn't bore you to tears and steer you away from this story, enjoy!

* * *

She was in the cabin, on her bed, with her hands under her head. She was bored and Paine was reading on the bed next to hers. She sighed. She couldn't bother Paine, especially when her sword was propped up against her bed where she could easily reach it if necessary. Rikku really didn't need another excuse to be threatened by the warrior. So she decided that she would play a prank on one of her friends. She started listing off the members of the Gullwings on her fingers to figure out who would be her prey.

Paine? No, she was not ready to die yet. Yunie? Nope, she was still mad about the last one Rikku tried on her. Tidus? Nah, he'd just get her back. Buddy? Yeah right! He'd just forget her in someplace like the Baaj temple. Ick. Brother? Pfft. He'd just go tell Pops and she was in no mood for one of his hour long lectures.

What to do, what to do?

"I've got it!" She accidentally yelled out loud. Paine looked at her with a raised eyebrow then shook her head before she started reading again. "Eh heh. Sorry. Just a little excited, I guess."

She rolled over and stuffed her face into the pillow.

There was only one other option.

Find someone outside of the Celsius.

**

* * *

**

"Who can I prank?" She whined to the sky. She had been pacing back and forth, on the deck, for about twenty minutes now. The only response she got was the sound of the wind.

"This is so frustrating!" She yelled as she threw her hands up in the air.

She needed help.

She needed a genius.

"Genius? Hey, wait! Shinra! I can prank Shinra!" She cheered and she punched her fist in the air.

She ran as fast as she could to the the elevator. She rushed in and hit the button for the bridge with so much force that it was surprising that it didn't break.

"Why is this thing so slow?" she whined out loud as she stomped her foot on the ground. As soon as the doors opened, she darted out and went straight to Buddy.

"Buddy! Go to Djose, stat!" she commanded.

"What? Why are you wanting to see Gippal?" Brother asked with frustration hinted in his voice.

"I'm not going to see Gippal and it's not of your business what I'm doing!" She yelled at him.

"You lie! You're going to see Gippal! I'm telling Vydran and you're going to get it!" She glared at him with her hands on her hips. She really didn't want Brother to tell Cid that she was hanging out with Gippal, truth or not. For some unexplained reason, Cid hated Gippal's guts and she got yelled at whenever she was with him.

"I don't care about Gippal. Just shut up and leave me alone!"She yelled as she looked over at Buddy with a pout on her face. Buddy was immune to all their fighting, since he had to deal with it whenever they were in the same room. He chuckled and set the course to Djose.

"Well, off to Djose. No questions asked."

* * *

After arguing with Brother the entire ride to Djose, she was relieved when they finally got there. Once she was on the ground, she looked around and saw Gippal standing on the bridge, talking with three of his employees. He was deep in thought and he stood there scratching his chin with a worried look on his face.

"Frana luimt ra ryja kuha yht dygah rec knuib fedruid yhouha hudelehk? Drec sygac hu cahca!" He said as he threw his hands in the air. (Where could he have gone and taken his group without anyone noticing? This makes no sense!)

"Gippal." He looked up and glanced over at her with shock written on his face. He couldn't help but wonder what Rikku was doing in Djose and her cursed in his mind because she just had to come at the worst time possible.

"Hey, Cid's girl. Been awhile, huh?" He said as he walked up to her and ruffled her hair a bit. He was wearing a smile, but she knew it was fake. His eyes always betrayed him.

"Yeah, whatever. Where's Shinra at?" She asked and put her hands behind her head. She looked so cute standing like that, but why was she asking about Shinra? He was suddenly feeling jealous of the kid who had just started working at the faction when Vegnagun was destroyed. But why was he jealous of Shinra? He's just a kid after all.

"Uh, Shinra?" She nodded, urging him to continue. He looked at her, confused, but responded anyway. "He disappeared last night. No one knows where he went off to. He took a wh-"

"Yeah, that's great. See ya!" She interrupted before she ran off. She was too busy running to see the disappointed look on his face. He rubbed the back of his neck before he returned to the conversation with his employees.

**

* * *

**

When she made it to Mushroom Rock Road, she started walking, lost in thought. Who could she prank now?

"Stupid Gippal, losing his own employees," she muttered to herself. "What a minute! I've got an idea!"

She punched her fist in the air and starting dancing. She was too happy to notice the hover attendant staring at her.

This had to be her best idea yet.

After all, who would be better to prank than Gippal himself...

**To be continued...**


	2. The bucket

**Author's note:** Well, my fellow readers, it's been what, two weeks since I posted the last chapter? Oops. I can explain! I've had play practice, dance, LOTS of homework, homecoming, and many other things. Oh, and I've been sick these past few days, but whatever. I highly doubt anyone cares. I've just gotta say thanks to all my readers and my two wonderful reviewers! But how about we all boost that two up to something like ten, eh? Please?! Yeah, didn't think so. Does it really hurt to write a two second review? No, I don't think so! I don't even care if it's a smiley face, _anything_ is fine with me! I'll give you a cookie if you review! Okay, I'm done being stupid. On with another short chappie! Heh, I _swear_ I will try to make them longer in the future!  
**

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**

Gippal was having a bad day. He had found tacks on the chair in his office _after_ he sat down, had spilled water all over himself due to the fact that there was a hole in his cup, slipped on a puddle that just _happened_ to be in front of his office, and many other little things that weren't exactly _enjoyable _and there was at least three more hours before closing time. There was absolutely no way that all of this could be a coincidence, someone had to have been messing with him. Even though he should have been worrying about catching the prankster or doing something about the whole Shinra situation, he caught himself thinking about Rikku.

"Gippal, sir?" He groaned as his thoughts were interrupted by an employee.

"Yeah?" He asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Well sir, somehow word got to Cid about group G going missing and he is angry. He uh, wants you to fill out a full report on what they were doing that day, when they were seen last, and who they were being led by. He also said that he'll be here in a few days to, well, he said and I quote 'kick your ass into shape.' He really didn't sound too happy, sir," the man said with a nervous expression on his face.

Gippal groaned. Just what he needed, more paperwork _and_ a visit from Cid. He walked past the employee and started to go to his office, but stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and looked at his employee with a raised eyebrow.

"Uh, sir, are you okay? All of us are worried about you. You haven't been as cheerful as you usually are, these past few days. We can tell that you have a lot on your mind and I would recommend a break, but you really need to get working on that report for Cid. Still, try not to overwork yourself, boss. We can't run this place without you."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for the concern," he said and walked to his office. Thinking about how much the faction cared about him brought a huge grin to his face, which was quickly washed away when he remembered that Cid would be at the faction in a few days.

* * *

"I say we just leave her," Paine said as she shrugged her shoulders. She was in no mood to go hunt down the overactive Al bhed.

"Paine! We can't just leave her! For all we know, she might be in danger. I think we should go look for her," Yuna said with her hands on her hips. When Paine stayed motionless, Yuna walked over to her and tried to pull her. "Come on! We gotta go find Rikku!" Paine glared at the older girl who was desperately trying to get her to move.

"Just leave her. We don't need Rikku!" Brother shouted as he paced around the bridge of the Celsius.

"Get Tidus to go with you," Paine said, completely ignoring the fact that Brother spoke, as the members of the Gullwings usually did.

"But he's asleep and he'd be useless anyway! Come on, Paine! She might be in trouble!" Yuna whined as she tugged harder.

"Honestly Yuna, it's _Djose_. Not even Rikku can get into trouble there." Yuna stopped tugging on Paine's arm and put her hands on her hips again.

"Fine. I guess I'll just go by myself, but when I find her, I might just happen to tell her about what I caught a certain swordstress doing with a certain Praetor." Yuna said in a sing-song voice causing Paine to blush.

"Fine, I'll go." Paine said as she rushed out of the Celsius with Yuna following not far behind.

* * *

The two girls walked next to each other and went straight into the Djose temple, not bothering with anyone or anything outside of it. They looked around the front room for exactly four seconds before spotting Rikku. Yuna started giggling at the sight and Paine crossed her arms over her chest as she glared in the direction of the seventeen year old. She groaned at the fact that she walked all the way over there to find the girl hiding behind a machina in front of the right antechamber.

"Mind telling us what you're doing?" Paine asked Rikku after walking up behind the Al bhed girl. This surprised Rikku and made her to jump, almost knocking the machina over.

"Shh! Gippal's in there." Rikku whispered and looked at Paine as she brought a finger to her lips.

"Your point being?" Paine asked as she raised her eyebrow.

"He can't know that we're here, so pipe down." Rikku whined in another whisper and Yuna started giggling again. She joined her cousin by crouching down next to her behind the machina.

"So, it would be a bad thing for me to walk in there and maybe say hi?" Paine asked with an evil smirk on her face.

"Yes! Now get down before he leaves the room!" Rikku whispered as she tried to pull Paine onto the ground. Paine resisted and started walking to the door.

"Paine, no!" Rikku yelled as Paine opened the door. A bucket filled with ice water fell and landed on Paine's head. She turned around and pulled the bucket off of her head. Rikku shuddered at the glare on her face.

"Eh heh. I can explain?" Rikku said nervously as she stood up from her crouching position to backup a few steps. This action caused Paine's glare to get even worse and Yuna burst out into full laughter.

"Uh, I'd say now isn't a good time to talk, is it, Ladies?" Gippal said as he walked over to stand next to the soaked Paine.

"No, it's not." Paine confirmed as she pulled out her sword, still glaring at Rikku.

* * *

**Author's note...again: **Review! Review! Review! Review! Seriously, I do have cookies! Review, flame, favorite, subscribe...I don't care which, just do something. Okay, maybe sugar is a bad thing at 5:30 in the morning, That's right, 5:30. **IN THE MORNING**. Now that's dedication! Maybe you should review! Eh?

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	3. Gippal's little problem

**Author's note: **Yippee! Chappie three! Anyways, I've finally made a plot line for this story (I was bored in Driver's ed) and so far I have plans for 15 chapters and a couple interludes, and I'm still not done with it! This chapter is roughly 600 more words than my others so you had better review! Nah, only if you want to. And the last news...I got a line in my school play! Yippee! Okay, I just found out and I have been happy dancing since. My school play is _The Tale of a West Texas Marsupial Girl. _No joke. I just thought that was interesting so I had to share it with you guys. Thanks again to my reviewers!

* * *

Gippal trudged to the cafeteria. He _knew_ he was missing something. Why were the Gullwings in Djose? Were they spying on him? Nah, maybe just admiring his good looks. He smirked to himself. And what the heck was the whole bucket thing? He _needed _a vacation.

He quickly got his food and sat down at a table by himself. There was something important going on today, but what was it? After a few moments of trying to think, a group of his female employees crowded around his table.

"Hey Gippal. Mind if we sit with you?" One of the girls asked as she giggled.

"No, go ahead take a seat." Gippal said as he smirked to himself. He put his hands behind his head and leaned back a little in his chair as the girls started talking to each other about nothing of any importance. Not once did he notice the figure that was hiding behind the bush in the corner of the cafeteria.

**

* * *

**Rikku was crouched behind the bush and she rolled her eyes at those girls. Why did they all desperately want to get in his pants? She covered her mouth to hide her giggles when Gippal accidentally leaned back too far in his chair and fell over. _Smooth Gippal, real smooth._

She watched as Gippal quickly got up from the floor and picked up his chair. He stood there and rubbed the back of his neck. The look on his face was priceless, but the reaction from the girls at the table was even better. A few of them were giggling, but one had a look of absolute horror on her face.

"Gippal! Are you okay? Are you hurt? Please tell me you didn't hurt yourself!" She said as she jumped out of her chair and quickly started to check him over.

"Uh, I didn't get hurt. My chair just tipped over, not that big of a deal," he said as she rambled on. He shrugged her off of him and took his seat. The girl didn't notice this and kept freaking out. Finally, she looked over at him and blushed as she took her seat. The girls started to talk again as he reached for the salt shaker.

Rikku started to twitch with anticipation, she inched forward a bit to get a better look.

Gippal grabbed the salt shaker and when he tipped it over, the lid fell off. His eye opened wide with shock as he looked at the pile of salt on his food. He pushed the plate away and began to hit his head on the table.

That's when Rikku made her escape, failing at holding in her laughter.

**

* * *

**

Gippal was not in a good mood. After the cafeteria incident, he was told that the new hires were at the faction and he had to give them a tour and begin their training. Ugh. Training the new hires...might as well tell him to do paperwork, or better yet, sit in a room and actually _listen_ to Leblanc. Ick.

"Okay people, let's get this show on the road," he shouted in his cocky tone to the mess of new hires outside of the temple. They all looked at him, some with excited expressions and some with bored expressions. They followed him as he took them through the temple and into the experiment room.

"Okay, let's go over the rules," he said as he turned to face the group. "Rule one, no drinking in my temple. Rule number two, just have fun here. And three, no being stupid. It's not that hard of a job and I don't want any explosions, got it?"

"Yes, sir!" They shouted and he sighed. This was going to be a long day.

Two hours and a grumpy Gippal later, Rikku sneaked into the experiment room. Everyone in the room had their backs to the door, allowing her to successfully find a hiding spot without being noticed.

Gippal was giving a speech about how to wire a machina. Rikku rolled her eyes at the employees. How could they not know how to _wire _a machina? Gippal had really outdone himself by hiring al bhed who didn't even know how to wire a machina.

She watched as his gloved hands worked on the machina. She could tell that he was struggling with keeping his pace slow for the new hires. He was almost done when a man raised his hand.

"Sir, what's in that room?" He asked as he pointed to the Chamber of the Fayth. Gippal stopped what he was doing and walked over to the door. He motioned for the group to come over.

"You do realize that this is a temple, right?" He asked and the group nodded their heads. "Well, this is where the Chamber of the Fayth used to be. Don't go in there or you'll plummet to your death."

The group remained in front of the door while a few others asked him questions. No one noticed Rikku as she made her way over to the machina and messed with the wiring. She did this in a way that it would take hours before Gippal would be able to figure out what was wrong. When she was done, he quickly ran out of sight and hid again. As soon as Gippal finished answering the questions, he walked back over to the machina.

"So as I was saying, you just cross the red and green wires and...huh?" He looked at the machina and stared at it with disbelief. He kicked it. "It should be working! Tyssed!"

The new hires stared at him with wide eyes, all but the two Yevonites that didn't understand him. Gippal sighed and started taking the machina apart.

**

* * *

**

Tidus looked around the temple. It had been a long time since he had been there and he still couldn't believe that the _al bhed_ were using a _temple. _He was so confused.

He scanned the front room and he found just who he was looking for. One of the new friends he made while attending all the parties that the Gullwings and the leaders of the three groups had been invited to.

"Hey, Gippal!" Gippal looked over and waved to him. Tidus walked over to Gippal as the younger man quickly said something to his employee that he was talking to.

"Hey, buddy! Long time no see." Gippal said as he slapped Tidus on the back.

"Yeah, no kidding. Listen, I'd love to chat, but I'm here on a mission," Tidus said as he put his hands behind his head.

"Oh? What can I do for you?" Gippal said as he put his right hand on his hip.

"I came here to find Rikku. Have you seen her?" Tidus asked.

"Rikku?" Gippal was confused, and maybe Tidus was too.

"Yeah, Rikku. Y'know about this tall, blonde hair, talks a lot. You can't miss her."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know who Rikku is, but shouldn't you be looking on the Celsius? I don't know what she'd be doing here in Djose," Gippal said and he rubbed his neck with his left hand.

"Uh, well Yuna told me to look here. Apparently she's in Djose doing something."

"Huh. I think you're crazy. Quit listening to Yuna and get out of my temple!" Gippal said as he pushed Tidus out the door.

Gippal stood in the middle of the front room and he crossed his arms. What would Rikku be doing in Djose? Why didn't she tell him that she was there? He rubbed his chin with his right hand as he thought. Some of the employees in the room were starting to stare at him, but he didn't notice.

Wait, the whole bucket thing made sense now! It was Rikku! All of it was Rikku! He hit his forehead with his hand. He was so slow.

**

* * *

**

Gippal was sitting in his office doing paperwork. It had been two hours since Tidus talked to him. Two hours of trying to plot his revenge.

The thing is, he couldn't find Rikku. She was _hiding_ from him in his own faction. He would never be able to find her. He finished the page he was working on and cast it aside. His eye went wide when he saw what was underneath the page.

"What the!" On top of the pile of paperwork was a very explicit picture of Nooj and Leblanc together. Ick. He didn't know how it got there, but it _needed_ to get out of his office. He crumbled the picture up and left his office to throw it away.

Rikku saw Gippal leave the office and she quickly ran in. What could she do this time? She grabbed his stack of paperwork and scattered it across the room. She then switched the caps on his permanent markers, making them look like a different color than they actually were. She suddenly heard footsteps coming towards the office and she looked around the room for a hiding spot. Just as a child would, she frantically got down on her knees and slid under the desk.

Gippal looked around the room and saw the mess of papers. He slapped himself on the face and started picking up the papers.

"I swear, if I didn't like her, she would be dead by now," he mumbled to himself. "I mean really, I can't kill the subject of my infatuation. No matter how much Rikku deserves it."

Rikku's eyes went wide. She covered her mouth hoping it hid her gasp. How did he know it was her? Wasn't he oblivious? But more importantly, did he just say he _liked_ her?

Gippal had picked up all the papers and was just about to sit down at his desk, when an employee ran into the room.

"Gippal, sir!" The man said, breathing heavily. "We have just been informed that Cid has left the desert and is on his way here."

Gippal grimaced. So _that _was what he was forgetting.

"Okay, let's get this place ready." Gippal said and he and the employee left the room. Rikku popped out of her hiding place and slowly walked over to the door.

Cid? Why was he coming to Djose. She made her way out of the temple, once again not being noticed. She ran as fast as she could to get to the Celsius. There was no way she was going to be in Djose while Cid was there.

* * *

**Another note:** How about we all hit that button down there and leave a review, eh? You can even submit them anonymously if you want to! Uh, I don't think that was a good thing to say...

Anyways, one more thing. How hard is it to use to use the correct your/you're? Honestly! I swear half of the stories that I have read on here misuse it! I know my writing isn't perfect, but still! Your=possessive, like: your dog is cute. You're=you + are, like: you're cute. Eh, bad examples, but you get the point.

Well, I guess I'll try to get the next chapter up sometime this week! Thanks for reading!


	4. The bucket part II

**Author's note: **Don't kill me! Please! Ah, I have had this typed up for like a week, but I kept forgetting to upload it. :( Anyways, I'm not going to say anything, just going to let you read the story, but anyways, thanks for the reviews/alerts/favorites! Let me know what you guys think of this failure of a chapter/story! :)**

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**

Rikku was in the cabin on her bed again. She couldn't stop thinking. Gippal liked her? She just couldn't understand it. She didn't do anything to attract him or anything, did she? She acted the same around him as she did around all the other guys, right? RIGHT?

Honestly...not so much.

"Hey, Rikku. What would you like to do today?" Yuna asked as she came up the stairs.

"I DON'T LIKE GIPPAL!"

"She didn't say you did," Paine said in a monotone, but then whispered, "But we all know that that's not true."

Rikku glared at Paine.

She did NOT like Gippal!

She did **NOT** like Gippal!

...

She liked Gippal?

**

* * *

**

Two employees watched as their boss frantically ran around the faction.

"What's his problem?" Asked the twenty year old blonde girl among the two workers.

"Cid's coming," her companion answered. He was equally young and also blonde, but much wiser.

"About Rikku?"

"Shinra."

"...what?"

"Shinra's group went missing."

"Oh, right! No wonder why I haven't heard 'I'm just a kid' in days!"

They watched as Gippal tripped, causing all the papers that he had in his hands to fly all over the room. He started to quickly pick them up as he muttered curse words to himself. The two employees looked at each other.

"Should we help him," the girl asked.

"Nah, he's in his freak out mode. We'd just be making it worse in his eyes."

"Right..."

"Hey, look there's Rikku!" The man said as he pointed to the girl who was crouching by the door.

"Maybe she's here because she wants to see Cid."

"I doubt that. Wait, why's she crawling around like that?"

"It's Rikku, does anyone know when it comes to her?"

The man looked at his companion, surprised because for once she made sense.

"Point taken."

**

* * *

**

Rikku was bored again. Paine and Yuna decided to go training after the whole episode. She didn't want to train, especially when she was still mad with them. She had helped defeat Sin AND Vegnagun, why would she need to train anyway?

That's the only reason why she went back to Djose.

She was bored and she wanted to play pranks. Nothing about seeing Gippal. She didn't care about Gippal.

She entered the temple and instantly got down on all fours. She crawled over to her hiding spot where she had previously left a bucket filled with chocolate sauce. She had seen Gippal walk into his office so she stealthily brought the bucket to the office door.

She looked around the room and saw no one around the room so she pushed a machina in front of the door and jumped on it, bucket in her hands. She placed the bucket on top of the door and carefully jumped down. She quickly moved the machina back to its original spot and she ran to the other door, ready to make her escape.

As soon as she reached for the doorknob, the door opened, backing her into the wall.

**

* * *

**

Cid opened the door, unknowingly squishing Rikku into the wall. He looked around the front room, finding it completely empty.

"Where's that boy at?" Cid asked the two employees who were slacking off earlier.

"Sir, he might be in his office," said the man.

"Yeah, he might be in his office being responsible and finishing up that paperwork you gave him," the female employee said trying to defend Gippal.

"Responsible?" Cid spat. "That boy doesn't know the definition of responsible and if he was responsible, he would have had it done _days_ ago!"

"He's had a lot on his mind sir."

"Yeah, someone's been messing with him. Playing pranks or something!"

Cid ignored the two employees and reached for the doorknob to Gippal's office causing Rikku's eyes to go wide. She wanted to stop him, but what could she have done?

Cid slammed the door open and he was welcomed by a bucket filled with chocolate sauce landing on his head.

Gippal jumped out of his seat once he saw the scene that just happened in the doorway. He ran to Cid as fast as he could.

"Gip-_PAL_!"

"Sir? I can explain?"

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**Author's note: **Sorry for the short and suckiness! I SWEAR the next chapter will be up this weekend. The play is this weekend, so I will have a lot of time to do nothing during act I. Heh, let me know what you guys think, even if it's flames!


	5. Failure

**Author's note: **Hello readers! Okay, I know you really want to kill me right now according to the fact that it's been over a month since I've last written. Eh heh. I have my reasons...anyway, on to another sucky chapter!  


* * *

Oh yeah, his life was over.

Any encounter with Cid is like hell, but this time it was worse.

_Way _worse.

There was no surviving this. As noted earlier, his life was over. Absolutely no chance of survival. Did Cid even have the authority to do this? Of course he did, he's the al bhed leader.

This is possibly the worst thing that can happen in his life. EVER. What could he do now? This was his life, his whole world, his everything!

* * *

"Baralai," he whined. "It was my life, my whole world, my everything!"

"Well, it does seem as if you have quite the problem on you hands." Baralai responded calmly to the his friend that was lying in the couch in his office.

"Problem? PROBLEM?! This is a mega disaster!" Baralai just shrugged his shoulders.

"Gippal, I do see this so called "disaster," but I think you may be blowing this out of proportion. It truly isn't the end of the world." Baralai said as he began shuffling through the papers on his desk.

"But it is Baralai! It is!" Gippal whined again. Why was Baralai being so calm about this? Some best friend...

Baralai sighed and stopped shuffling through the papers. "Are all Al bhed like this?"

"Huh?" Gippal sat up on the couch, eyes wide.

"Whiny, annoying, _loud_?"

"Wow, 'Lai. I never expected that sort of thing coming from you," Gippal said as he rubbed his chin.

"I apologize. I did not mean it as a racial slur. I just get the same vibe from from both you and Rikku. I was only curious."

"Well, me and Rikku-" Gippal was interrupted by an loud knocking on the door.

"Excuse me," Baralai said as he stood up from his desk. He walked to the door as Gippal fell pathetically back on the couch with a groan. The praetor opened the door and a smile fell upon his face. "Paine, I was not expecting you. Come in."

Said visitor walked into the room and smirked at the helpless figure lying on the couch. "Care to explain?" She asked, motioning to Gippal. He looked up at her and sighed.

"Gippal has just had a bad day. He, um, found out some terrible news last night." Baralai said as he returned to his desk.

"Oh really?" She crossed her arms over her chest and walked over to the couch leaning over to look Gippal in the face. "What's wrong with baby?"

Baralai opened his mouth to answer, but closed it when Gippal motioned for him to stop.

"Let me," Gippal said as he sat up. "I, well I, um, "ran" into Cid last night and he told me that, well, um..."

"On with it Gippal," Paine glared "I didn't come here to listen to this."

Gippal took a deep breath. He didn't like saying the words that he was being forced to say. They reminded him that he was a failure and the one thing that mattered to him was being taken away from him. Paine started tapping her foot and then Gippal choked out...

"He's shutting down the faction."

* * *

"So, what's on the agenda for today?" Rikku asked as she ran through the door to the bridge.

"Uh, nothing?" She looked over at Tidus who was currently sitting at Shinra's computer with his feet on the computer. Good thing Shinra wasn't there.

"But that's so boring! Come on you guys! Where's all the action at?" She said as she jumped down the stairs.

"We're not getting any distress calls, so there is nothing we can do," Buddy said. "Wait, looks like Paine wants to be picked up now."

Rikku looked around the room, "I didn't realize she was gone. Where is she?"

"To Bevelle!" Brother yelled. Rikku put her hands over her ears.

"Thanks, Brother. She's been spending a lot of time in Bevelle. What do you guys think she keeps doing there?" She asked, rubbing her cheek.

"Baralai," Tidus said chuckling.

"Tidus!" Yuna yelled and began to scold him.

"Here we are," Buddy said as he landed the ship.

"We're here now, Paine!" Brother yelled through the intercom. A few minutes later, Paine arrived on the bridge. She looked around the room.

"I need to talk to Yuna, Buddy, and Tidus in the cabin, now," she said and walked to said room.

They all looked at each other, but no one questions Paine.

"Hey, what about me!" Rikku yelled after them.

* * *

It was sunset when Gippal returned to Djose. He sighed and entered the temple. Baralai didn't really cheer him up any, he kind of made it worse in way. He sulked through the temple and when he was just about to walk into his office, he was stopped by two of his employees.

"Hey, Gippal. How are you?" the male employee asked.

"Fine," he said weakly. The confused expressions on their faces told him that they saw through his lie. "Yeah, I'm fine. I guess...we just need to make the best out of this situation."

"So it's true? He's really doing it?" the female employee asked as she threw her arms around Gippal in a hug.

After a few seconds he shrugged her off and then responded, "Yeah, sorry guys. I guess things would have been better if you had an older leader. Heck, just a bett-" he was interrupted by a slap across his cheek.

"You need to knock that off mister! No more complaining! Gippal, we can get through this, we can stop him!" the female finished by punching her arm in the air.

"We can?" asked the other employee.

"Yes, so shut up," she said while glaring.

"Then what do you suppose we should do then?"

"We should, um, I don't...I don't know," she said defeated.

"Exactly. Don't go opening your stupid mouth if you don-"

"Hey, are you two done?" Gippal interrupted. "I would like to go to my office now."

The employees both nodded their heads and the girl spoke up, "Hey. We _will _think of something, okay? Just give us some time and everything will be back to normal."

"Yeah, I'll be counting on that," Gippal said and started walking to his office again, but stopped when he heard the other door slam open. He turned around and saw another employee gasping for breath at the door.

"Sir! Group R has gone missing!"

"What? You've got to be kidding me! Is this another practical joke?" Gippal said running to the man.

"No, sir. No one has seen them all day and...and their communicators, we can't get a signal! Gippal, they've gone missing!"

* * *

Rikku looked around at the faces in the cabin. They were having some sort of serious conversation, but stopped as soon as she walked in. Why were they looking at her weird?

"Um, is there something on my face?"

"No, no. Nothing, you look perfect. All good!" Tidus said as he got up from his seat and walked over to her. He put his arm around her shoulders. "But hey, how about you go check the commsphere network. We haven't checked it in awhile," he said as he led her to the elevator. Paine and Yuna looked at each other, surprised that Tidus was doing something smart for once.

"But Brother's out there!" she whined.

"Well, Brother's an idiot. Uh...no offense."

"None taken. I guess I'll go check the network then."

She walked to the computer once she got to the bridge. She flicked Shinra's computer on and...nothing...as expected. She sighed and quietly made her way back to the cabin. Once she got there, she moved as close to the door as she could without it opening. She heard Paine's voice speaking first.

"He thinks he's being irresponsible, what with the whole "incident" and Shinra's group going missing. "

What were they talking about? She leaned a little extra further to hear better.

"But it wasn't his fault! Didn't he try to explain?" Yuna asked.

"And technically he shouldn't be held responsible for the Shinra thing. That kid is always up to something." Buddy added.

"Do you seriously think it is possible for Cid to listen to reason _and_ agree with it?" Paine sighed.

"Good point," said Tidus.

"What do you think Rikku is going to do?" Yuna asked. "I mean, it was her fault this happened!"

Rikku? What was her fault? Why were they talking about her? What was going on?!

She leaned forward even more, but it was too far. The door opened and she tumbled into the room.

"Owie!" They all looked at her, each with a different emotion on their face. "Eh heh. I can explain?"

* * *

**Author's note:** Okay, so I hope you liked it. Please leave a review because they make me feel good inside and if I don't get them I feel like a failure. :) Really, a review would be nice, even if it is a flame or whatever. And sorry for any mistakes in the story!


	6. Punishment

Author's Note: Hey guys... It's been a long time hasn't it? I'd like to apologize to all my old readers (if they ever come back) for abandoning this but I've decided to finally come back and finish the story. It's only been about two and a half years, no big deal right? Yeah, I'm really sorry and all but you know how it is. I'm back, I've matured, and hopefully my writing has gotten better though I doubt it. Enjoy!

* * *

She didn't care. No. It didn't matter to her at all that they had kicked her out of the ship for the night for bad behavior. She was perfectly fine with it, she was indifferent to the situation. She just wanted to know what they were talking about but all that eavesdropping did was get her kicked off the ship and made her very confused. Whatever they were talking about was most likely stupid and wouldn't affect her life anyway. Besides, she had her own problems to deal with, mostly all involving a certain machine faction leader.

She wiggled her toes in the sand and took a deep breath. The beach in Besaid was a truly beautiful place to be during the night and definitely a good place to think and relax. Well, until a big gust of wind blew a piece of paper right into her face. She grabbed the paper before it flew away and looked at the writing, instantly recognizing the handwriting.

She had to get back on the ship and soon.

* * *

He watched as employees walked past him carrying. He watched as his employees hugged each other and said their farewells as they parted. He just stood in the middle of the faction, in the middle of all the gloominess and lost hope, because there was nothing else he could do. He stood with his arms across his chest and refused to meet the looks of anyone who would look his way. He was afraid of what he would see in their eyes, the anger, the disappointment, the sadness. He could only offer a small nod to any that waved goodbye to him.

"Shouldn't you be getting ready to go?" Gippal just shrugged as a response to the voice, waiting for the owner to come up to his side to join him.

"What are you doing here?"

"I just came to see how you are doing," Gippal could only roll his eye at that. "You know, you've done a good job here."

"It is me we are talking about, Buddy. Have you ever known me to not do a good job?"

"There you are! I've been wondering what happened to the cocky bastard you usually are."

Gippal smirked, "Nothing happened to that cocky bastard besides, great people like me deserve to be cocky."

"Well I heard someone was moping around Bevelle the other day, whining and crying like a little baby," Buddy said causing Gippal to punch him on the arm. "Hey! You know it's not like you to just let Cid boss you around. Isn't this your faction, not his?"

"No one can just say no to Cid, not even me. It's not like I could go behind his back and keep this place running. He's still in charge of so many factors that go into the faction, it'd be useless without him."

"I suppose so but there's another reason isn't there?"

"I don't understand what you mean." Gippal started to walk away as fast as he could to his office to get away from Buddy, but Buddy was fast enough to get to the door right before Gippal was about to shut it.

"You still like her."

* * *

"But Yunie! I need back on the airship, it's an emergency!" Rikku was kneeled down next to the commsphere in Besaid pleading with her cousin, still grasping the letter she found earlier.

"Rikku, you know I can't do that, Paine said you're not allowed!" Yuna was whispering, hiding the fact that she was talking to Rikku from the others on the ship.

"Yunie, go get Brother and tell him I want to talk to him right now. This is important!"

"Brother is flying to Djose right now and we don't have anyone navigating so I absolutely cannot go bother him."

"Why are you going to Djose? And where is Buddy? What is going on?" Rikku was childishly stomping her feet on the ground now and Yuna could only roll her eyes at her cousin's antics. Tidus then entered a bridge and joined Yuna to see what she was doing when he noticed Rikku on the screen.

"Hey, Rikku! How are you doing? How is Besaid? How are Lulu and Wakka? How's the punishment?" He was talking so loudly it could almost be considered yelling which Yuna could only hope would not alert Paine of what they were doing.

"Tidus, be quiet!" She said as she hit him on the arm. He yelped which did in fact draw Paine's attention to the couple.

"What are you two doing?" She asked as she made her way to them. "Is that Rikku? I thought I told you that she was banned from all contact for the day as punishment."

"Paine, I know I'm in trouble but this is really important! Just trust me, please?"

Paine glared at the screen and Rikku shuddered a bit from the vicious look she was getting and Paine finally eased up and said, "Fine. What is it?"

"It's Shinra."

* * *

"So where are you headed?" Buddy said as he finished packing up the last box that Gippal needed help with.

"I'm not exactly sure," He said as he rubbed his chin. "It just doesn't feel right for me to just leave this place."

"There's not exactly anything left here for you though."

"I know. Most of the others that worked here are going back to Bikanel, Cid was at least kind enough to offer them all jobs back there. I just don't know what to do without the faction."

Buddy offered him a sympathetic look but left it at that. He decided to give Gippal some time to think and he began carrying a few of the boxes to the door to the outside of the faction. Gippal silently thanked him for the peace and just looked around the empty office. There had never been a point in his life where he felt more like crying but he knew he couldn't. His pride wouldn't let him and the fact that Buddy was just in the other room and would never let him live it down. Everything just looked so plain, not like he ever really decorated the temple but now there was absolutely nothing in there. And no people. That's probably what hurt the most.

He had let everyone down.

When he first came up with the idea for the faction, there were so many people doubting him and they were right. He fought so hard to prove them wrong, to be successful and yet, it was all for nothing. He had lost two teams of employees and he had no way to even find what had happened to them.

Buddy peeked his head back through the door hoping to see a cheerful face on his friend but was disappointed to see the solemn look still there. He hoped it wasn't permanent.

"Hey Gip, do you want to stay on the Celsius for a while? Maybe until you figure out what you want to do next?" Buddy hoped this would cheer him up and when Gippal turned around to look at him, he received a small smile and a nod. "They'll be here soon."

Buddy left the office and smirked to himself. Life on the Celsius was sure to get much more interesting.


End file.
